Homophobe!!!!

I may not fully understand the whole story here, but I am pretty annoyed with gay activists who claim that any opposition to things like same-sex marriage is seen as homophobic. Here in Canada, it's been a real annoyance since we've sanctioned same-sex marriage. It seems that you can't say anything that may be seen as contradictory to these activists without it being labeled as homophobic. It seems like a trump card, really. You know, when you're playing Hearts and you just laid down that Ace of spades to take the Queen of spades and what you think to be the round's last remaining heart and some yahoo throws down his 2 of hearts, takes your Queen and you get stuck with a bunch of points against your impeccable record--if you've never played hearts, then, simply put, the trump card takes all.

Unlike a game of cards, however, playing the homophobic trump is pretty insidious. It is used in place of critical thought, and it is used to intimidate all in opposition to the activists' cause. What it functions as is, essentially, a way to control how people express their ideas and thoughts. It makes everyone express thought the same way as the dominant ideology expresses its thoughts. Has anyone ever read George Orwell's 1984? In the book, this kind of ideological oppression is known as newspeak. The almighty Wikipedia has a lovely description of newspeak:

"Newspeak is closely based on English but has a greatly reduced and simplified vocabulary and grammar. This suits the totalitarian regime of the Party, whose aim is to make any alternative thinking — 'thoughtcrime,' or 'crimethink' in the newest edition of Newspeak — or speech impossible by removing any words or possible constructs which describe the ideas of freedom, rebellion and so on. One character says admiringly of the shrinking volume of the new dictionary: 'It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.

Orwell's 1984 is a very interesting and timely read; I think everyone should be reading this book, especially in light of Barack "The Saviour" Obama's Freedom of Choice Act--which is so erroneously and misleadingly (again, the term "insidious" comes to mind) titled that it is sure to sway people to its agenda. Another great example of why Orwell's book is timely is Canada's Kangaroo Court. Unless things have changed since I've last read about it, the laws of this court state that if someone feels that they might be offended by something you've said, they can take you to this idyllic court and have you fined for saying something that hurt their feelings. Sure, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal probably does play an important role in protecting the well-being of Canadians, but it is too subjective to be of any real benefit for us all. Additionally, homophobia is a real problem that we must all be aware of, but objecting to the whims of gay activists does not imply that one is homophobic. Furthermore, it is ignoble to use it as a type of trump card to silence the opposition--particularly if these activists in question are truly concerned with the well-being of all Canadian citizens.

For a great resource on some problems with same-sex marriage, check out this link from the Catholic Education Resource Centre.